Video Games as ... art? (Picasso Sniper 4 now on sale!)

Kotaku had an interesting commentary on the zombie genre and its recent movement away from zombies as a mystical / unexplainable phenomenon, and into the realm of science with each game having a (mostly) plausible explanation.

Ever since the Spring of 1996, I have enjoyed a really well done zombie survival game. I have also noticed the shift in the genre, both in film and in video games, away from the mystical and towards the scientific.

I think it has less to do with the notion of unexplainable zombies being stale and played out, and more to do with the growing awareness of the dangers of pandemic. As per my last post, I really believe that the idea of infectious diseases has just entered into the public consciousness in such a way that it is terrifying yet conceivable to imagine a disease like rabies, which turns a family member into a violent stranger.

This scenario is far scarier than the idea that a passing comet has a mystical power, or that hell is full to overflowing, precisely because it is a lot more relevant to modern life.

I've loved video games since I can remember. Throughout my lifetime, I've been able to witness the evolution of games from insanely difficult arcade style offerings that had little or no story, to the extremely complex interactive novels that seem to be the modern archetype.

I really do believe that as a new, interactive form of media, it took a while for both the technology and the artists to catch up to its possibilities. Now, please don't misunderstand and think I'm one of those pretentious nits that thinks every single game is a form of art. Sometimes you just wanna shoot zombies in the head. I'm well aware of that.

In fact, very few games these days are, as a whole, intended as a work of art. It is still an industry fueled by profits, and these days games sell based on how fun they are to play. That said, there are still "artistic moments" in most games, and I suspect that this idea will continue to develop along with the game industry itself.

Games are evolving to become more meaningful to our modern lives. They often have parallels to real events. In many cases, they have a subtle commentary about contemporary politics. I believe that games will continue to develop in a way that they remain relevant to our modern lives, much like other forms of media.

I was browsing the forums at GameFAQs a few months ago, and distinctly remember someone posting about how outrageous it was that a game on the current Iraq War was in development. They said it wasn't something we should be entertaining ourselves with, or crassly making money on. Other posters responded with the logical continuation of that line of thought, asking if the original poster thought no movies should be made on any controversial subjects, too?

This line of ignorance, where video games aren't valid as a form of expression, is thankfully on the decline. Yet I suspect this narrow-minded attitude will struggle on, frustratingly impossible to make fully disappear. Much like the insurgency in Iraq.